The present invention pertains to order substitution methods and systems that automatically perform substitutions for unavailable items in a customer order. More specifically, the invention allows for the substitution of unavailable items based upon predetermined criteria and set processes, so that the substitutions are made in a manner that optimizes efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Substitution methods in the current art typically use non-systematic and inefficient procedures in order to provide substitute items for unavailable items in a customer order. For example, some Internet-based grocery shoppers, (such as, for example, Peapod Inc., of Skokie, Ill.), send human buyers to one or more stores in order to fulfill customer orders. If a buyer is trying to fulfill an order for Brand A 64 oz. Ketchup, for example, and it is out of stock at the store, the buyer can make a substitution in order to approximate the product that the customer ordered. However, the substituted item may only be chosen from available items on the grocery shelf, which are typically adjacent to the unavailable items on the shelf space. Thus, for example, the buyer might substitute the same brand ketchup in a different size or variety, or a different brand in a similar size or variety, assuming that either is available at the store.
There are several problems with conventional order substitution methods. For one, the buyer's guess often does not result in a satisfactory substitute, particularly since they buyer is typically not an expert on all types of products. Also, the buyer does not have a procedure by which to consider all of his or her or her customer orders in the aggregate in order to make decisions that better maximize customer satisfaction. Further, no procedures exist for aggregating the orders of one buyer with that of other buyers in order to make larger aggregate decisions. Additionally, the buyer also does not have access to data concerning the available inventory of the store before attempting to fulfill his or her orders, and therefore is only able to make ad hoc decisions at the time of fulfillment.
For these, and other reasons, an efficient, automatic system architecture and method is desired to implement substitutions for unavailable items in customer orders.